REI To Open New Prototype Green Store in Boulder
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 10. 4.07
The green team at the outdoor gear co-op, REI (Recreational Equipment Inc,) can’t be getting much sleep of late. They seem to be rolling our some new eco-endeavour every month. In August it was their Eco-Sensitive product labelling. Last month we learnt they were pledging a $100,000 USD grant to the Bikes Belong Foundation to make US cities more cyclist friendly. And now in October, with barely time to draw breath, they are about to unveil their long anticipated green prototype store in the Boulder, Colorado.
This new retail store, opening tomorrow has been constructed achieve a Silver certification as accredited by the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program. It’s not the first time REI have put energy into designing better stores. We’ve reported over the past three years on their work in locations such as Portland and Pittsburg. Read after the jump how the Boulder shop has managed to reduce its electricity, etc, by 20% and its water by 30% against industry standards.
That energy reduction by twenty percent is accomplished via a three prong solar implementation. Passive solar, solar thermal and solar electric. The first through natural daylighting with Solatubes [an Australian pioneer in daylighting, if I might get all patriotic for a moment]. Solar hot water (see pic below) will provide 70% of the hot water load of the building. And in, what is considered the first installation of building-integrated photovoltaics (BiPV) of its kind in a retail environment, solar panels imbedded in the entrance skylight with convert sunshine into electricity—about 2% of the store’s need (pic at bottom).
The remaining 98% will be coming from purchased wind energy.
Low flow water fitting in restrooms through to workspaces combined to use about a third less water than building codes require. While carbon dioxide (CO2)sensors re-circulate the air throughout the store, resulting in higher quality ambient air and energy savings. Further reduction in Volatile Organic Compound(VOC) levels has been sought by incorporating more natural building materials into the stores flooring, fixtures, benches and such forth. Bamboo, recycled rubber (from tyres and tennis shoes) and cork being some of the chosen materials.
Not only greener from a technical standpoint the store also strives to be a useful venue for the broader community. A nearly 2,000-square-foot (186 m2) space of elevated flooring within the store has been dedicated to be a resource for the community “to learn more about the outdoors and opportunities to protect shared natural spaces, as well as provide a venue for events, presentations, and demonstrations by REI or one of its many community partners.” This community space will be free of merchandise.
Design consultants for the Boulder store were Gensler, whose design director for the project, Ted Jacobs, is quoted as saying, “REI challenged us to raise the bar in terms of how their store and brand experience could better serve the community and address their goals to reduce the company’s environment footprint.” Green lessons learnt from this prototype store, (which is a remodelling of a store originally opened in 2002) will be applied to future REI buildings.
We’re told a dedicated webpage will carry more info on the store. It was wasn’t quite ready for viewing at the time of posting, [Whoops, we spoke too soon. It's now live!] but in the meantime, while waiting you can visit the earlier site. ::REI Boulder Store
If REI allowed me to donate my dividend as a co-op member into a fund for greening their stores and reducing their footprint on the planet-- I would definitely do that most years.
If I weren't so lazy I might suggest that to them instead of posting a worthless comment here.
Some of the green aspects sound worthwhile, the community uses are commendable, and it looks better than your average big box retail store ... but as far as I can tell, it is still a big box store. Where is it located? Close to downtown and/or public transport stops, or stuck in a giant retail park surrounded by carparks? I don't know Boulder well enough to tell for sure, but from the aerial photos it looks more like the latter.
Does LEED take into account where a building is and how people will get there?
It looks like about a mile from the heart of downtown. Not nearly as good as being _in_ the heart of downtown but still possible to walk or bike. But clearly their eco planning stopped at the front door. Compare the few token bike racks to the expansive parking lot....or look at the directions for how to get to the store, which are listed as "driving directions" only. It's clear they expect their customers to drive there.
Will the interior be green. The REI store in Portland Oregon has indoor air polluted from off-gassing new bike tires.
I live 1/2 mile from this store and its surrounded by Boulder's excellent bus system as well as several bike paths. This is also within 1 mile of a new transit village site that includes commuter rail and bus rapid transit. I typically ride my bike to this location and I applaud their efforts and expect them to learn from this experience.
http://www.bouldertransitvillage.net
LEED does take into account a buildings location and its access to mass transit. They also chose to renovate an existing building instead of build upon on a "greenfield" site.
Good for REI. I wonder why so little photo voltaic -- 2% of electric usage. Buying wind off the grid is nice but what's good for vegetables is good for electrons too -- buy local, like off your own roof.
Incidentally, to a cyclist, "off gassing bicycle tires" smells like perfume. I know, I know.
I think this is very admirable, but if REI really wanted to make an impact, they would require their vendors to reduce the use of plastic in their packaging. I went in there recently to purchase an fitting for my Nalgene, and it came in packaging taking up three times the size of the object, rather than having a basket filled with them.